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File: 5616/78.09_29
Report Filed By: “Cassandra”
ANOTHER DEEP SPACE DISASTER
An Iron Coalition supply ship, the St.Bernard, exploded on its way to meet another Coalition ship, the Vimy at Mars. Preliminary investigation of the wreckage suggests the St. Bernard suffered an uncontrolled fusion reaction within its maneuver drives. No cause for this reaction has been determined.
This is the third Coalition ship to explode mysteriously on the Mars run in the last two months. In each case, the vessel seems to have destroyed itself. Until the explosion, there was regular communication with Coalition outposts. There were likewise no signs of any hostile ships in the area. All of the wreckage collected to date shows no indication that anti-ship weapons were used against it.
Coalition investigators are baffled by this. Edward Coyne, a spokesperson for Brigadier General Fisk's Office, had this to say. “At the present time, we assume that some sort of human error is responsible for the loss of these vessels. Each of the ships lost was of a different class and design. We have found no obvious correlation between these events other than the location of their destruction.” Coyne was unwilling to speculate about a possible connection between the location of the ships and their fates. “It would be irresponsible to speculate about the cause of the St. Bernard's destruction until the investigation is completed. As to its relationship to the other vessels lost recently, I'm afraid I cannot comment on that.”
Coyne did say that the Coalition expects its investigation to be completed within the week. He promised that any information uncovered would be released at that time.
>>Fireball_99: node 8319.78_18: Three ships in two months? That can't make Fisk very happy - especially when they haven't a clue what's causing it. The Coalition mightn't be willing to speculate on a connection, but several of my contacts were.
One of them suggested the Coalition's been testing out a new form of maneuver drive in its efforts to stay one step ahead of GigaCorp. This contact went on to say the drive is highly unstable and prone to accidents. I don't buy it myself. Fisk may be a fascist, but he's not one to risk the lives of his troops like this.
Another contact says he's heard there's a traitor inside the Coalition. This traitor is on the payroll of GigaCorp and sabotaged the ships on orders from Kelleher. Again, it just doesn't seem right. I'm sure there are traitors within the Coalition ? Fisk's too much of a prig for there not to be - but this doesn't seem like the kind of thing a traitor would do. It's too small and hasn't really hurt the Coalition. I don't know about Kelleher, but I wouldn't pay for this.
My last contact says someone else is to blame. She wouldn't say who. She just told me to keep my eyes peeled and warned me a lot of weird stuff is going down in the Belt. I'd hardly call that reliable information, but it makes more sense than anything else I've heard so far.
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